were in this sense his pupils; and the founding of the University of
Virginia was an achievement long anticipated by him and enthusiastically
performed.

Jefferson was somewhat unfortunate in his own children, for, of the six
that were born to him, only two, Martha and Maria, lived to grow up. Maria
married but died young, leaving one child. Martha, the first-born, was a
brilliant, cheerful, wholesome woman. She married Thomas Mann Randolph,
afterward governor of Virginia. "She was just like her father, in this
respect," says Mr. Bacon, the superintendent,--"she was always busy. If she
wasn't reading or writing, she was always doing something. She used to sit
in Mr. Jefferson's room a great deal, and sew, or read, or talk, as he
would be busy about something else." John Randolph of Roanoke once toasted
her--and it was after his quarrel with her father--as the sweetest woman in
Virginia. She left ten children, and many of her descendants are still
living.

To her, and to his other daughter, Maria, who is described as being more
beautiful and no less amiable than her sister, but not so intellectual,
Jefferson owed the chief happiness of his life. Like many another man who
has won fame and a high position in the world, he counted these things but
as dust and ashes in comparison with family affection.

IV

JEFFERSON IN THE REVOLUTION

Shortly after Mr. Jefferson's marriage, the preliminary movements of the
Revolution began, and though he took an active part in them it was not
without reluctance. Even after the battle of Bunker Hill, namely, in
November, 1775, he wrote to a kinsman that there was not a man in the
British Empire who more cordially loved a union with Great Britain than he
did. John Jay said after the Revolution: "During the course of my life,
and until the second petition of Congress in 1775, I never did hear any
American of any class or description express a wish for the independence
of the colonies."

But these friendly feelings were first outraged and then extinguished by a
long series of ill-considered and oppressive acts, covering, with some
intermissions, a period of about twelve years. Of these the most
noteworthy were the Stamp Act, which amounted to taxation without
representation, and the impost on tea, which was coupled with a provision
that the receipts should be applied to the salaries of officers of the
crown, thus placi